No end in sight to supermarket saga

Tuesday

Aug 12, 2014 at 3:51 PMAug 12, 2014 at 3:51 PM

By Joyce Pellino Cranejcrane@wickedlocal.com

Part-time employees had no scheduled hours this week at the 71 Market Basket stores across the region.Sales have plummeted at the once-popular supermarket chain as customers boycott in sympathy with the employees, who are seeking the reinstatement of former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, who was fired in June.Meanwhile, company co-chief executives Felicia Thornton and Jim Gooch have given full-time employees who have walked off the job — mostly warehouse and delivery personnel — an Aug. 15 deadline to report back to work. The walk-off has left Market Basket stores almost devoid of fresh products and with dwindling grocery stock.Chelmsford Market Basket store manager George Koumpouras has been with the company for 43 years, since he started as a bagger at age 14. He has been store manager for the last five years. Koumpouras oversees 350 employees, approximately 250 of them part-timers."I just wish this would come to an end for my customers’ sake and my employees’ sake. I just feel bad that I don’t have any hours for my employees. I feel bad, but that’s the direction we’re getting from the office… adjusting the schedule for business, that’s basically what we have to do... The customers are supporting us… we appreciate our customers."On Aug. 7 a statement appeared on the Save Market Basket Facebook page attributed to Thornton that required managers to manage payroll."As we are all aware our store sales volumes are substantially reduced from standard levels," the statement said. "As has always been our practice, your role as store director requires you to manage payroll as one of your many responsibilities. This means you need to schedule staff levels necessary to serve your current customer base and maintain store conditions."The news comes after corporate executives staged a three-day job fair in Andover, Aug. 4-6, and claimed via broadcast media that it was well attended.In the meantime, administrators of the "Save Market Basket" Facebook page, which had 27,431 followers as of last Thursday, are asking sympathizers to sign a petition to have the board of directors of Tewksbury-based Demoulas Super Markets, Inc., investigated for fiduciary malfeasance, or intentional wrongdoing.A comment posted last on week on the Facebook page condemned the decision to replace the workers"This is all happening while there is a job fair underway," according to the Facebook post, "where the company is looking to hire new people for jobs that are currently filled and for positions which are about to be cut from the schedule. While we can't imagine why anyone would want to join this train wreck, the bigger question is why has the Board of Directors not accepted ATD's offer to return so that the company can be stabilized?""ATD" refers to Arthur T. Demoulas, who was pushed out of company leadership by his rival cousin Arthur S. Demoulas. Arthur S. convinced a majority of the company’s shareholders, this spring, to fire Arthur T. along with seven other company executives. The cut came nine months after a Superior Court ruling that allowed a $300 million payout to the company’s shareholders, amounting to about 60 percent of its cash on hand, according to a statement issued by Arthur T. in September. Arthur T. had voiced opposition to the payout. He is credited with providing a generous benefits package to the employees, which they said they fear will change under the new regime.Last weekend, the two feuding cousins released statements, providing a glimpse into the ongoing negotiations for ownership of the company. According to Wicked Local’s media partner WCVB, Arthur T. Demoulas said in a statement issued by a spokesman Sunday that his offers to buy Market Basket "have been rejected, not on the basis of price, but with counterproposals that have been laden with onerous terms that are far beyond comparable transactions."The statement was in response to an announcement last Saturday from the family faction that owns slightly more than half of the company. The shareholders aligned with Arthur S. Demoulas - the current head of the board - said they were willing to accept the purchase price offered by Arthur T., but added he was unwilling to accept financing for the deal that was secured by collateral and that included a reasonable payment schedule. The offer for the private company has not been disclosed, but an industry publication estimates the company's value at up to $3.5 billion.State attorney generals for Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Martha Coakley and Joseph Foster, issued a letter to Thornton and Gooch, dated July 31, that reminded the executives of the widespread impact their decisions are having on the region. "Those decisions also have serious implications for the many small businesses that supply your stores or otherwise rely on a close business relationship with Market Basket for their livelihood," wrote Coakley and Foster. "Please keep all of these impacted persons in mind as you chart the course for Market Basket."At one of the two Market Basket stores in Westford, at 160 Littleton Road, only one customer was shopping there around 12:30 p.m., Aug. 7, according to store manager Paul Gauthier. Gauthier said he had not been asked by corporate executives to lay off any part-time employees."I’ve been asked to cut back (the) hours of part-time workers," he said, noting that when normal operations resume at the store, the workers would still have jobs.Gauthier said there are 180 total employees, out of which150 are part-time."There’s going to be about 30 of us running the store," he said.Gauthier said only one out of 11 registers were manned that day."I have one cashier and one bagger on duty all day," he said. "One is leaning on the register looking dejected and the bagger is pacing back and forth."Molly Loughman contributed to this report.